Bug type

Behavior bug (incorrect output/state without crash)

Beta release blocker

Yes

Summary

The persisted main-session registry entry can become stale and inconsistent with the session transcript. When this happens, the gateway may remain up and partially responsive, but new prompts are not accepted from multiple surfaces until the stale main-session entry is removed and the gateway is restarted.

Steps to reproduce

1. Start an interactive direct-chat session on OpenClaw 2026.4.2.
2. Use the default main session on gpt-5.4.
3. Allow normal interaction and at least one restart/recovery cycle after earlier session-state trouble.
4. Inspect the persisted main-session registry entry and its referenced transcript.
5. If the bug triggers, the registry entry can be in a terminal state such as done while the linked transcript contains later incompatible events not reflected in the registry entry.
6. In that state, new prompts from more than one surface are not accepted even though the gateway can still answer some local RPC/dashboard requests.

Expected behavior

The persisted main-session registry entry and the linked transcript should remain consistent.

If the session is terminal, the registry should accurately reflect the latest transcript state, and the conversation should continue accepting new prompts normally after restart or recovery.

Actual behavior

Observed behavior showed a persisted main-session registry entry in terminal state while the linked transcript contained later events that the registry entry did not account for, including a later prompt-timeout event.

In that state, the gateway remained up and partially responsive, but new prompts were not accepted from either Telegram or the control dashboard. Restarting alone was insufficient. Recovery required deleting only the stale main-session registry entry so OpenClaw could recreate a fresh main session on restart.

OpenClaw version

2026.4.2

Operating system

Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS; Linux x86_64

Install method

npm global

Model

gpt-5.4

Provider / routing chain

openai-codex -> gpt-5.4

Additional provider/model setup details

Observed on the default main direct-chat session.

A separate Anthropic auth issue existed in the same environment, but it was ruled out as the immediate cause of this cross-surface wedge.

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

The persisted main-session registry entry referenced a transcript with newer events than the registry entry reflected.

The transcript included a later prompt-timeout event not represented in the terminal registry snapshot.

Both Telegram and the control dashboard stopped accepting new prompts, which ruled out a single-surface provider issue.

The gateway still appeared healthy enough to answer some local RPC/dashboard calls, showing that process health alone did not reflect interaction health.

Restarting the gateway without removing the stale main-session entry did not reliably restore interaction.

Removing only the stale main-session entry from the session registry, then restarting, caused OpenClaw to recreate a fresh main session and restored normal operation.

This appears related to, but distinct from, issue #60250, which covered the narrower case of a completed run remaining persisted as running.

Impact and severity

High severity.

When triggered, the primary conversation becomes unusable across multiple surfaces even though the gateway may still look online. Recovery requires manual intervention in persisted session state.

Additional information

This looks like the same general persistence-corruption family as issue #60250, but a broader manifestation. In #60250 the contradictory state was running plus terminal fields. Here the registry entry itself was already terminal, but stale relative to the linked transcript.

A maintainer may want to inspect whether session-registry persistence and transcript/lifecycle persistence can be written out of order or from different stale snapshots during restart/recovery paths.

If you want, I can also draft the short cross-link comment for #60250 so the two issues point at each other cleanly.